Case Studies

In 2012, Dr. Stephanie Gripne agreed to an interim role to lead the Alliance Center renovation from design to construction and develop the strategy for The Eye on the Future Fund, a donor­advised fund of The Denver Foundation, made a $7.5 million below-market program investment to Alliance for Sustainable Colorado.

From 2000-2010 less than 500 of the 76,000 private foundations in the U.S. have used one of the most unique tools in their toolbox: a program-related investment {PRI). PRl’s allow foundations to make a gift, grant, or loan to a for-profit entity or fund if that entity and gift further the charitable mission of the foundation.

What do Walmart, Coca-Cola, Unilever, Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, PepsiCo, Keurig, Goldman Sachs, have to do with impact investing and climate mitigation? These Fortune 100 and 500 firms recently invested in the Closed Loop Fund (either through their corporate foundation using a Program Related Investment (PRI) or treasury) in order to create a low-cost debt fund for municipalities to borrow to upgrade their recycling infrastructure.

Prodigy Coffeehouse is not your average neighborhood cafe. It’s located in a Northeast Denver neighborhood often neglected by similar businesses and where the unemployment rate is high. As important, Prodigy is a nonprofit venture whose baristas come from the neighborhood’s vulnerable youth population to learn job skills while earning a wage.

Nicole Bagley is an entrepreneur and the trustee of three family foundations. Her first impact investment followed her participation in CO Impact Days and Initiative where she learned about potential investment opportunities and how to make direct impact investments into social ventures. “What’s different about the Impact Finance Center and CO Impact Days and Initiative;· says Nicole, “is that instead of managing money, they are a nonprofit academic center supported by donors and foundations.